Friday, 19 August 2005

Update on airline codesharing

Back in March 2005, I reported here in my blog and in my e-mail newsletter on the USA Department of Transportation (DOT) solicitaiton of public comments on the practice of airline codesharing (labelling a flight actually operated by one airline with the flight number of a different airline).

My comments were filed with the DOT on 14 March 2005, and are available here (DOT docket) or here (local copy).

Other public comments can be viewed and downloaded from the online DOT docket index for this rulemaking.

Over half of the comments received from individuals ... used the occasion to opine that, as a general matter, the practice of code sharing, in and of itself, is deceptive and misleading and can lead to customer confusion. In addition, a few individual commenters argued that code sharing should be altogether abolished.

On the bad side, the DOT decided to ignore the prevailing opinion of the travelling public that codesharing is, and should be prohibited as, fraud:

[W]e wish to note our disagreement with the commenters who opined that code sharing is inherently deceptive. The prohibition of the practice is far beyond the scope contemplated in this proceeding.... Furthermore, as a matter of policy, the Department has long held that code sharing is not inherently unfair or deceptive.

Instead, the DOT promulgated a final rule that went even further than the airlines had originally requested in reducing the extent to which airlines have to disclose codesharing in their print and Internet advertising.

"Congress shall make no law ... abridging ... the right of the people peaceably to assemble." (U.S. Constitution)

"Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country." (Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

"Liberty of movement is an indispensable condition for the free development of a person." (United Nations Human Rights Committee)